Delilah
by 44TayLo
Summary: A girl becomes mutated by one of the TMNT's foes. Will her new life prove as awful as she suspects, or will it give her a chance at a "normal" family? No OCXCanon  Rated for language.
1. Hey There Delilah, What's it Like in NYC

Chapter 1: Hey There Delilah, What's it Like in New York City?

"Ugh. It's hot out." I complained to myself as I walked home from school. It was eighty degrees out. Most people think of this as a comfortable temperature. Not me. Anything above seventy is too hot for my taste.

I looked around carefully. I hated walking home from school, but I hated riding the bus home even more. That being said, it was probably a stupid choice to walk around by myself in one of the many bad parts of New York, and if I had a decent amount of common sense I would have rode home instead. Except I never cared much for common sense. I'd much rather risk it all for a little alone time on the way home than listen to perverted boys and gossiping girls.

That's what I hate about New York the most, I think. Traffic is so bad here that it's impossible for a teenager to drive anywhere, even with a license. I mean, if I drove everywhere I went, I would be flat broke.

"_Two more blocks to my house. Yay."_ I thought to myself sarcastically.

Actually, things at home weren't THAT bad…ok maybe they were. After Dad disappeared without a trace a few years ago, Mom became an alcoholic. She could get a little violent when she was drunk, and I had to get a job at the age of thirteen to support us, but besides that, things are just peachy.

"Fucking teacher, giving me a fucking 'D' on my English paper because it wasn't typed. Well EXCUSE me for not having a computer." I growled to myself as I ducked into the ally that was connected to the apartment my mom and I shared. "Let's see him complete Sophomore year with a 'C' average while juggling a job and a constantly drunk mother. God, it sucks to be sixteen."

I undid my long, red hair out of its ponytail. I got sick of having to take a shower every day to wash my hair (not that I paid the water bill anyway. I took showers in the girls locker-room before school started), so I wore it up. The only downside? That on top of my not-so-perfect grades had me labeled as a punk, as well as worse things. I thought a ponytail would make me seem less threatening, but I guess not.

I dug my hand into my black sweatshirt pocket and pulled out the apartment keys. I didn't notice the glass cylinder whiz through the air and implant itself on my neck.

I did however, notice the slight pain in my neck after it hit me, but was distracted when I heard a noise coming from the dumpster to my right.

"Not again!" I groaned. I walked over to the dumpster and peered in. "Mom?" I asked. "Are you in there? Did you pass out again?" There was too little light in the ally for me to see clearly. I flipped the lid completely open and let out a strangled scream, backing away quickly. My back hit the brick wall of the apartment next door, causing me to drop my keys.

I heard someone move to the right of me, towards the back wall of the ally. I couldn't see who it was, since the person was covered in shadow. Suddenly a hand shot out from the darkness and grabbed me, covering my mouth.

I tried to elbow the person but suddenly became dizzy. At the same time, my vision began to blur. I quickly remembered the slight pain on my shoulder from earlier. Could it have been a dart with anesthesia in it? Like in movies? That didn't seem very likely, but who was I to say what was realistic anymore, after seeing what had been hiding in the dumpster?

The last thing I saw was the green, reptilian monster emerged from the dumpster, spinning something that looked like a fork with a really long, sharp middle prong.

* * *

><p>"So, Bishop's after some random chick, huh?" Mikey asked. He was lounging upside down on the couch so his head was on the floor and his feet were resting on the back of the couch.<p>

"Apparently so." Donny nodded. He, Raph, and Leo were standing around the couch Mikey was on. The four brothers were at their home, called the Lair. Oddly enough, it was located in the sewers. Even more oddly, these brothers weren't human. They were mutated turtles, trained to be ninjas by their Sensei, Master Splinter, a mutated rat. The boys decided to call themselves the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Each brother was named after a different Renaissance Master and given different weapons individually.

"Raph and I caught a few commandos stalking her a week ago. Since then, they haven't stopped." The one called Leonardo, who had twin katanas and a blue mask, announced.

"But what does he want with her?" Mikey (full name Michelangelo. He had nunchukus and an orange ninja mask) frowned, righting himself.

"How should we know?" Raphael growled. He was wearing a red mask and spinning one of his sias in his green, three-fingered hand.

"I believe he wants to use her for some type of experiment. Raph and I shadowed her, in case of a commando attacked, and it seems she doesn't have much family besides her alcoholic mother and no friends. She would be the perfect target if he was looking for someone to experiment on. No one would realize she was missing." Leo answered sadly.

"Ah, don't go all gushy on us now, Fearless Leader." Raph rolled his eyes. He had detected the sadness in his brother's voice.

"There's nothing wrong with feeling sorry for someone in a bad situation, Raph."

"Yeah!" Mikey added.

"Whatevah. We gonna do somethin 'bout dis or not?"

Leo nodded. "We're going to do something about those commandos before this girl gets hurt."

In a matter of moments, they were running through the sewers. Luckily, there was a manhole in the ally that led to the entrance of the girl's apartment. The four weren't really sure where she would be. Leo and Raph had only tailed her at night when they couldn't be as easily seen. Fortunately, they DID know where she lived, and that was a good enough start.

"Ok, everyone hide. She's a teenager, so more than likely she'll be coming home from school any moment now." Leo informed them.

"I wish you had at least found out her name." Donny (aka Donatello, who wore a purple bandana and wielded a bo staff) complained. "I could have done a quick search on the internet and found out where she went to school so we could tail her from there."

All four brothers quickly scattered. Donny hid behind a few boxes, while Mikey laid flat on the platform of the fire escape on the opposite apartment. Raph hid in the dumpster next to the entrance to the apartment, and Leo donned shuko spikes he had hidden in his belt and climbed up the wall of the opposite apartment, hidden in the shadows.

Before the girl arrived though, a garbage truck backed into the ally. The three other turtles held their breath, praying that somehow Raph wouldn't be discovered.

The truck stopped abruptly and ten men in commando gear (including guns) hopped out of the van. Four men went into the apartment the girl lived in, and another four went into the opposite apartment. It was assumed they went on to their respective roofs. The remaining two men hid in the very back corners of the ally, hidden in shadow. One of the commandos stayed behind to back the truck out of the alley and park it along the street just outside, before hiding as well.

The band of ninjas was just about to jump them, when the girl arrived. She quickly strode over to the door. They saw one of the soldiers shoot a vial of anesthesia at her, but before any of them could act, a strange noise came from the dumpster.

Leo and Mikey could see the two commandos switch their attention to the dumpster, and Leo could hear the commandos on the roof ready their guns, which he assumed were snipers loaded with real bullets this time.

Raph had found a spider in the dark of the garbage and had let out a small yelp. He covered his mouth quickly and grimaced, willing the spider to go away.

The girl also stopped and said something the others couldn't hear, then went to check the garbage.

"_Well, there goes the element of surprise."_ Leo sighed as he jumped off of the wall and onto an unsuspecting commando just as the girl let out a scream. They all saw her back away into the wall, and the other commando on the ground quickly darted over to her and pulled her into his grip, just as she lost consciousness.

Raph jumped out of his hiding spot, along with his two younger brothers.

The commandos from the roofs had already entered the alleyway again, and were shooting their lethal guns at them.

With deadly skill, the four brothers began dispatching the soldiers without much difficulty. As they took on multiple commandos each, the one with the girl quickly slipped back into the garbage truck unnoticed.

The car started up, and the brothers realized their mistake.

"Shell!" Leo growled. "Donny, can you-"

"Already on it!" Don interrupted. He grabbed a tracer from out of his belt and threw it like a shuriken onto the truck just as it sped past the alley. It magnetically stuck to the side of it.

Raph knocked out the last of the commandos, and the brothers quickly took to the sewers. They ran away from the truck and directly to the warehouse they hid their vehicles in. Leaving the sewers, they ran into the warehouse and jumped into a heavily armed car Donny had dubbed "the Battle Shell". It was equipped with all kinds of things Donny had built into it. It even had tinted windows to keep the teenagers hidden, and from the outside it looked like a normal moving van.

Donny hopped into the front seat and pulled out a tracker. They then began to follow the little dot glowing on it that resembled the garbage truck the girl was in.

"Is this it, Don?" Leo asked curiously. He was in the passenger seat.

Donny stopped the car in front of an old, foreclosed on gas station at the very edge of town. "It appears it's directly under it."

The leader of the group nodded. "Alright. The plan is to get in and get out. Try to do this as stealthily as possible."

The others nodded and they got out of the car. They followed Donny, who was still watching the tracker. He went over to the front door and opened it. Instead of an entrance, they discovered it was actually an elevator that could only go down from surface level.

"Ya sure this is a good idea, Leo?" Raph asked as he entered.

"Good or not, we can't let Bishop use this girl as a test subject." He answered in a convicted tone as the doors closed and encased them in darkness.

* * *

><p>The garbage truck parked at the second gas pump on the left side of the old, foreclosed gas station. The commando quickly left the vehicle and punched in a code on the pin number pad formerly used by customers when paying for gas. He then jumped back into the vehicle just as a door opened underneath the truck and slowly lowered it into Bishop's secret base.<p>

The base was basically the exact same as area 51, but just simply moved to a different location after the turtles discovered it. There were large machines everywhere, most designed for gruesome purposes.

A man in a long black coat and slacks, white long-sleeved t-shirt, and black tie walked over to him. "Where are the others?" He sneered, peering down at the soldier with his rectangular glasses.

"There was interference." The soldier answered nervously. "The others were dispatched by the humanoid turtles, but I managed to capture the subject."

A twisted grin broke out over Bishop's face, causing the commando to involuntarily shudder. "It must be my lucky day. The turtles will surely follow the girl here, where I can easily capture them. Now bring out the girl and set her up for immediate genetic experimentation."

The soldier saluted in response and went to the back of the truck, where garbage was usually kept. Instead of it being a normal truck, the back was actually equipped with a state-of-the-art containment center.

Bishop strode away, still grinning. "If this works, I can create an army of super soldiers not even aliens will have a chance against!"

* * *

><p>"Oooh. My head. God dammit, whoever is responsible for this is gonna pay." I groaned. I opened my eyes slowly, but shut them quickly again and cried out in pain. There was an extremely bright light right above me.<p>

"Oh good. You're awake." A voice called to me.

I squinted and carefully opened my eyes again. This time, the light was dimmed just enough for me to open my eyes without too much pain. I noticed a man in a long black coat wearing a pair of really geeky glasses standing over me. "Who the hell are you?"

"My name is Agent Bishop. I am in charge of the Earth Protection Force, dedicated to defending the earth from the alien menace."

"Riiiiiiight." I rolled my eyes. I didn't believe in aliens…or did I… "Wait a sec, aliens like the one in the dumpster by my apartment? Were you rescuing me or somthin?"

"Unfortunately, no. That was a mutant of this planet, and consequently there are four of them. I believe they were trying to save you from me." He grinned deviously.

"Uh, if ya work for the government, aren't YOU the GOOD guy?"

"Yes. But some would deem my methods of protection…unethical."

"Yeah…so uh, why am I strapped down?" I asked, noticing I had restraints keeping me strapped to a metal table.

"You happen to be part of my more unethical plans to protect the planet." He said simply. There was a hint of evil in his tone.

I gulped, getting nervous now. But I couldn't show fear. The most important lesson you learn growing up in the slums is to never show your fear. "What exactly does that entail?"

"You will be a new breed of super soldiers infused with animal DNA. Not only will you gain animalistic instincts, but a vast amount of agility and strength. You will become a killing machine."

I was deathly pale now. "D-don't I have a say in this?" I asked, disgusted with myself for letting the terror I felt seep into my voice.

"No." He turned away from me. "Begin the transfusion." He called to someone I couldn't see. "You see, sometimes one person must sacrifice themselves for the good of mankind. You should feel honored."

"Hey, come on man! Y-you don't want me as a soldier! I can barely pass high school!" I laughed nervously. "Seriously you-Wait a damn minute! Where are my clothes? What the hell man! You perv!"

I could hear my captor's laughter, but could no longer see him. "I wouldn't be saying such nasty things to the person controlling whether you live or die."

"Come on man, what do you want?"

"A way to defend the earth. And that's exactly what you're going to give me."

I was about to plead, when a burning sensation engulfed my entire body. Every nerve was on fire, and I was aware of every cell in my body burning. I screamed in pain. I don't think I'd ever screamed so loud or so high in my life.

I heard noise in the background. Some sort of scuffling, then everything went quite as I passed out.

* * *

><p>"We haven't seen anybody yet." Donny whispered quietly.<p>

The ninjas had stealthily continued their way through the base after getting off of the elevator.

They suddenly heard an earsplitting scream.

All four of them went pale.

"It came from that way." Leo whispered. They followed him down the left hallway. They were met by over fifty commandos.

"Shell." Mikey groaned.

The boys quickly got to work, fighting there way as fast as they could to the end of the corridor.

They made it unscathed, but there were still thirty commandos standing and running after them.

Once through, they were met with Bishop and several scientists standing on a platform overlooking the girl they'd seen from earlier. Except her torn jeans, black converse, and black sweatshirt had been removed.

The brothers blushed and covered their eyes.

"Oh Darwin." Donny yelped.

"Really?" Raph asked skeptically as he opened his eyes to fight the commandos rushing them from behind.

"Well, I don't believe in God." He shrugged.

Raph rolled his eyes as the others quickly began to help.

"Ah, the turtles. Do you like the welcome wagon I rolled out for you?" Bishop called to them.

"Next time (kia) try a (hai) fruit basket. They're more practical." Mikey informed him as he fought off another soldier.

Bishop watched as the turtles defeated all of his soldiers.

They turned, looking towards him.

"Now what, Bishop?" Raph grinned.

Bishop turned to check on the girl, then looked back at them. "You didn't think that was the hardest part, did you?" He grinned and reached into his shirt and grabbed a katana.

"Let's dance, reptiles." He growled and charged at them.

The turtles charged back, engaging in combat.

Raph went at Bishop from the front, but was stopped when he had to dodge his opponent's katana. At the same time, Donny jumped at him from behind and hit him over the head.

Bishop growled, but was kicked over by both Mikey and Leo, who attacked at the same time.

He stumbled away and frowned. "You have improved." He looked between the girl and the exit and growled in disgust. "Fine. I may lose my research, but I can at least promise I will live to fight another day!" The madman grinned. He grabbed a remote from his shirt and pressed a button on it, then fled towards a large cylinder on the wall.

Raph was about to dart after him, but Leo grabbed his arm.

"Get in, get out, right?"

Raph scowled. "Right." He growled through his teeth.

_Self-destruct in T-minus one minute._ A computerized voice echoed.

"Until next time, terrapins." Bishop called as the cylinder shut.

"Come on!" Leo yelled as he jumped down to the level below them where the girl was laying.

Donny ran over to the computer and the others followed Leo.

"Whatever Bishop did, it's done! It's ok to pull her out. Just make sure to take the IV out of her arm." Donny called. He quickly took out a tiny device from his belt and put it into the USB drive of Bishop's computer. All of the madman's data quickly transferred onto the tiny device, which Doni pocketed again.

Leo undid the IV as Raph cut the girl free from her restraints. Leo then picked her up and they fled out of the building and into the Battle Shell.

As they drove away, the building exploded behind them.

"We barely made it." Donny sighed in exhaustion.

"Don't we always?" Mikey rolled his eyes. "We always escape RIGHT before something explodes."

"So…um…do we have anything we can…you know, cover her up with?" Leo blushed.

"Dude, ya just carried her. I think its ok." Raph called from the back as he rolled his eyes.

Leo frowned and got up to get a blanket from the back. He found one and did his best not to look at the girl on the floor as he covered her up. He was about to leave, but saw something weird on her neck.

"Hey Don, check this out."

"Raph, take over. …Leo, I'd expect Raph to ask me to come check out a girl, but you?" Donny joked.

Leo frowned, obviously not amused. "Just get over here."

Donny made his way over and looked at the girl's neck also. "Scales?" He asked in amazement.

"I think so."

"They're spreading!" Donny yelped in surprise.

By this time, Mikey had become curious and come over as well.

Raph mumbled unintelligible things to himself about how stupid it was he was stuck driving.

The three brothers stepped back as more emerald green scales appeared. All over her body, the girl's skin cells turned red and irritated then seemed to split as scales took their place.

At the same time, odd cracking noises filled the air. The girl screamed in pain, and after that never stopped whimpering.

"Her bones are cracking." Donny explained. "I wish I had anesthesia to numb the pain a little." He said worriedly.

In a matter of minutes, the once human girl had grown a tail, had scales covering her body, grown claws in place of her fingernails, and had her ears replaced by earholes.

The girl stirred in her sleep and opened her eyes. Her irises had become more reptilian and diamond shaped. Strangely, her irises stayed the same deep blue they had been before the mutation.

"Where am I?" She tried to say. Instead it came out as a muffled groan. Every single bone in her body hurt. Not only that, but she had a killer migraine that would definitely make her voice echo painfully in her ears. She knew if she tried to move, she would collapse.

"You're safe." Leo assured her. He sat down next to her head so she could see him with little effort.

Her hazy eyes focused in the direction of the voice. A scream welled up in her throat, but she calmed when she realized she had seen the creature, or at least someone a lot like it, before. "You're one of the things I saw in the dumpster at my apartment." She croaked out, narrowing her eyes. "Before that bastard captured me. I'm assuming you saved me. Thanks for that. He was crazy. Talking some kinda nonsense about turning me into a super soldier by giving me animal DNA or somthin." A thought suddenly occurred to her. "Did you get there in time, or am I different?"

The turtles were surprised by the tone of her voice. It seemed as if she was completely uncaring about the answer to her question. Like someone asking what time it was.

"We didn't arrive in time. I'm sorry." Leo said slowly.

She pursed her lips. "Eh. It's all good. Not like ya can do everything, right? At least you saved me." She gave him a smile that pulled a little too far to the left. "I'd stand up to shake your hand, but if I move I'm afraid I'd break into more pieces than a jigsaw puzzle."

"No need. Take as much time as you have too to recover. My name is Leonardo, by the way."

The newly born mutant nodded. She turned her head to the left. "And these two guys?" She asked.

"Donatello." Donny introduced himself. "But call me Donny."

"I'm Mikey, the pretty one!" Mikey grinned.

Don groaned. "Do you have to say that every time you introduce yourself to a human?"

"Duh." The orange masked ninja rolled his eyes.

"Our brother, Raphael, is driving." Leo told her.

"I'd come over and meetcha face ta face, but then the car would run inta a telephone pole, and we don't want dat, do we?" Raph called from the front. "Oh, and don't call me 'Raphael'. People only call me that when I'm busted for doin somethin. Call me Raph."

"Hehe. I can tell I'm gonna like you already, Raph." The girl grinned. "'Name's Delilah."

"Delilah?" Donny asked in surprise.

"My full name is Delilah, but everyone calls me Del, which ticks me off since I ain't a computer so I prefer my whole name. Um, can one of you help me sit up?" She asked, unsure if that was too much to ask of someone who just saved her life.

"Of course." Leo replied, jumping to his feet. He carefully helped her into a sitting position and then gently slid her back so she was propped up against the wall of the Battle Shell.

The turtles shut their eyes tightly as the blanket covering Delilah fell off of her torso.

On the other hand, Delilah's eyes widened in surprise. _"And I thought chivalry was dead…"_ She thought to herself. She quickly adjusted the blanket so it was wrapped around her tightly and wouldn't fall off again.

"Boys? You can open your eyes now." She informed them, still slightly shocked.

They blinked their eyes open.

She laughed at them. "You guys sure are somethin'."

"Well obviously." Mikey grinned. "Just look at these guns!" He flexed his muscles for her.

Donny rolled his eyes.

"What do you mean, Miss Delilah?" Leo asked her seriously.

She laughed again. "That right there! You guys are treating me with more respect than anyone ever has before. Definitely more than a boy has, anyway."

"That's unfortunate!" He exclaimed. "I'm really sorry."

She studied the sincerity on Leo's face for a moment. "…I can't tell if I'm really going to get along with you, or fight with you a lot."

Donny and Mikey snickered.

Leo shrugged. "You can't get along with everyone."

"I'm leaning more towards liking you. Just be sure not to call me 'miss' again." She smiled. A thought suddenly occurred to her. "Where are you guys taking me by the way?"

"Well, right now we're heading to our home." Donny informed her. "But if there's somewhere else you think you'd be safer, we can take you there instead."

Delilah thought in silence. She had never been so tired in her life. The thought of standing made her want to throw up, and she could still feel a faint throb of burning pain throughout her body. Besides, where would she go? Back to her and her mom's apartment? Her mom barely recognized her most of the time, thanks to cheap beer. If she went back now, her mom would most likely try to kill her. She couldn't do anything until she was back to normal, if that was possible. But maybe there was still hope.

"How…how different do I look exactly?" She whispered. It was the first time any of them had seen her show worry or sadness since she got there.

"Pretty different!" Mikey exclaimed. "If I hadn't seen you transform, I wouldn't have believed you were the same person!"

"MIKEY!" All of the other brothers (including Raph) yelled.

"I was afraid of that." She looked away from them, pinching the bridge of her nose. Where would she stay?

"You can stay with us for as long as you need." Leo assured her.

She looked at him in bewilderment. "How did-"

"-How did he know?" Mikey asked. "That's just his thing."

"Well, if you're sure…there's just one problem."

"What's that?" Donny frowned.

"I'm gonna need clothes so you guys don't keep blushing on me!"


	2. Understanding

Chapter 2: Understanding

"This is embarrassing." Delilah groaned.

"You fell over!" Leo protested.

"I don't care! I told you to put me down!" She insisted.

The turtles stopped at April's to get some clothes for Delilah, but when she tried to stand up she fell over. Leo was ignoring her protests and was carrying her out of the car bridal style.

"I take it back! You and I are NOT going to get along!" She frowned.

Raph chuckled. "Wish I could help ya, but when Leo puts his mind ta somthin, ya can't stop him. He carried ya out of Bishop's anyway. 'Least ya have a blanket this time."

She looked at Leo skeptically. "You manned up enough to carry me out of there even without me being 'decent'?" She mocked.

"Carrying you without clothes wasn't exactly honorable, but you would have died if one of us hadn't done something. It's what anyone would have done." He told her as Mikey knocked on the door of April's apartment.

"Ugh...Look, I appreciate you saving my life and all, and I'm sorry I joked about that, but could you please put me down? I really don't like people touching me."

The blue masked ninja sighed. "Alright." He put her down gently.

Delilah's knees immediately buckled. Leo caught one of her elbows and Raph caught the other before she fell.

"At least I managed to keep the blanket on." She groaned.

The door opened to a taken aback April. "Guys? What...who's that?"

"Delilah." Delilah answered. "I'd shake your hand, but I'm concentrating on standing and not throwing up right now." She joked, but her tone was strained.

"There always seems to be something keeping you from shaking hands." Donny mused.

"What is she doing standing like that? She's obviously having a hard time! Pick her up, one of you!" April scolded.

Leo and Delilah sighed simultaneously as the other mutants laughed.

"May I?" Leo asked politely.

"Oh fine." She scowled in annoyance.

Leo picked her up again and they quickly entered the apartment.

April shut the door and got to work giving orders. "Leo, put her down on the couch. Mikey, make something for her to eat. She looks starving. Donny, fill me in on what happened and help me check her vitals if need be. Raph…um…can I trust you to get clothes from my bedroom?"

He stared at her with a mix of disgust and mild curiosity. He'd seen bras in commercials on TV, but never in real life…

"Yeah, I didn't think so." She frowned, reading his mind. "Ok, I'll get the clothes. Leo put her down on the couch." She called as she was already going down the hallway to her room.

Leo placed Delilah gently on the couch as Mikey ran into the kitchen to make pizza (what else?). Raph sat down on a large armchair and Donny hovered over them, waiting until April came back downstairs to tell the story.

"Oh my God. I thought YOU were overbearing." Delilah told Leo in shock.

He laughed. "Well, you DID look hungry. I hope you like pizza."

"You should know, I'm a vegan." She joked.

"I can tell Mikey to microwave vegetarian pizza. I'm sure April has some without meat."

"Oh my…Leo, I'm kidding! I grew up without a lot of money. I couldn't really be picky about something as stupid as food…Hey, I can call you 'Leo', right? I heard April say it, and it's less of a mouth full than your full name."

"Of course."

"Ok! Got some clothes!" April announced as she came down the stairs. "Guys, leave." She pointed to the kitchen.

The turtles quickly left and April helped Delilah into some clothes. April even had the foresight to bring scissors to cut a hole in the pants for the mutant's tail.

"You can come back in!" She yelled again.

Raph and Donny both came back out. Leo had decided to stay in the kitchen to make sure Mikey didn't clown around. He didn't dare actually try to help. He burnt everything. Even toast.

"Guess what guys? I have a tail." The younger girl frowned, sounding less than enthusiastic. She was sitting on the couch wearing white jeans and a red t-shirt that luckily fit pretty well.

"And she's unusually ripped." April told them in surprise. "She says she never went to a gym though."

"Nope! Musta been something Bishop did." Delilah shrugged. "He did say I was supposed to be a 'super soldier' or something."

"What else did Bishop say?" Donny asked curiously as Leo and Mikey walked in. Leo was carrying a large pizza and put it on the coffee table next to the couch. He handed Delilah a slice and she ate hungrily.

"Said he was gonna infuse me with animal DNA and that I'd have animial instincts and better strength and agility." She answered with her mouth full of pizza. "Said I'd be a killing machine."

"That's a little…creepy." Mikey frowned.

"No shit, Sherlock." Raph rolled his eyes. "It's Bishop we're talkin' 'bout here."

"Hmm." Donny thought out loud to himself. He studied her carefully. "You have very sharp, carnivorous teeth, impenetrable scales, new and improved muscles…how are your hearing, sense of smell, and eye sight?"

"Um…I don't know. I still kinda have a migraine, so my vision is blurry and anythin' loud or really rank is annoying."

"Meaning it makes you want to vomit?" Donny asked skeptically.

"…maybe."

"You're just like Raph when it comes to your health." He complained.

"I don't lie 'bout my health!" The red masked brother protested.

"What, is it bad to be like me?" She grinned evilly.

"I didn't mean it like that." He mumbled.

Delilah was feeling much better. A lot of her strength was beginning to return. She stood up without warning. Black spots threatened to overtake her vision, but she managed to stay steady. She took slow, deep breaths, then wrinkled her still human-like nose.

"What smells like sweat?...Oh. That's you boys…and me." She blushed.

"We could all use a shower." Leo admitted.

"Everything is sharper and I can hear things clearer. This is kinda awesome!"

"Are you sure you're ok?" Leo asked.

"Yeah. I'm feeling…good." She smiled calmly. "Is there a bathroom?"

"Yes. Right through that door over there." April informed her, pointing to the left.

"Thanks." Delilah smiled. She walked into the room and stared at herself in the mirror. Oddly enough, her appearance didn't bother her. It was unnerving to not recognize your own face, yet something about the way she looked now seemed appealing. She realized with a start that she looked strong. She had been faking strength for years, and now she finally really had it!

Even though she had scales and more reptilian features, her basic anatomy was relatively the same which was why she still had to wear clothes. She thought that was a bit of a bummer since she hated picking out clothes to wear anyway, but whatever. She was glad she still had her hair, and was even more relaxed when she found a ponytail holder on the counter by the sink. She quickly pulled her hair up and off of her face.

Delilah sighed and bit a claw. There was one problem. How was she going to take care of her mother now? Without Delilah's financial support, the middle aged drunk would certainly get evicted from the apartment.

"_It's not the time to worry about that now."_ She told herself. _"Mom's been using you ever since Dad left six years ago. She can take care of herself for a couple of days."_

But she wasn't so sure. Fatigue and worry overcame her and she slumped to the floor, hugging her knees. She hated feeling worried about her mom when the woman hadn't cared about her in the slightest for so many years. Silent tears spilled onto her cheeks, causing her to only feel even more disgusted with herself. The clear droplets hugged her scales like morning dew on an emerald green leaf. It was a sad sight, and yet quite beautiful.

She stiffened slightly when an arm wrapped around her shoulders, but didn't protest when it pulled her onto the figure's plastron. She hated being touched, but this time she made an exception.

Delilah silently cried until no more tears would come.

* * *

><p>"It's been five minutes." Mikey complained.<p>

"She's probably upset." April explained to him. "Give her some space."

Mikey pouted, but was subdued when April turned the TV on for him. April and Donny began to talk about some science crap, and Fearless Leader had mentally checked out. He wasn't meditating or nothing, just deep in thought.

That left me to my own company.

April must've noticed my restlessness, 'cause she told me Casey found the part I needed for my motorcycle and left it over here since Donny was gonna come by later anyway to pick some science stuff up. Apparently it was in a box on her kitchen counter.

I quickly got up off the couch and ducked into the hallway that lead to the rest of the apartment, so basically just April's room, the bathroom, and the kitchen. I was gonna go to the right to get the package, but I noticed that the two doors going to the left were also open. I thought that was weird, since Delilah was supposed to be in the bathroom.

I really don't know what possessed me to check on her, but I did.

She didn't look up from her spot on the floor when I walked in, obviously not hearing or seeing me. But I sure as shell saw her. She looked broken, something I couldn't allow.

I knew she was a lot like me. That much was obvious from the short while she'd been talking. People like us act tough on the outside. We act like we're strong and intimidating, when really we're upset on the inside. We get upset pretty easily actually. And we deal with that by being angry, brash, and in her case sassy. At least according to Leo and Splinter. Apparently there are better ways to deal with our emotions, but we don't know them or feel like we need to learn them. We won't let ourselves, 'cause that would be admitting we have issues.

I quietly knelt next to her, not really knowing what to do. She was so intent on crying and thinking, that she still didn't realize I was there.

"_Shit. What would I want right now? For real. Pretendin' I wouldn't be embarrassed or nothin'…I guess I'd wanna get some comfort from somebody."_ I thought to myself.

I grimaced. I wasn't the comforting type. Hell, I couldn't even remember the last time I'd done something "comforting".

"_Movies. What do da guys in movies do when da chick is upset?"_ I quickly tried to think back to the last time it was April's turn to pick a movie for movie night at the Lair. She liked action movies, but sometimes she picked chick flicks, which always ticked the rest of us off, besides Splinter of course. They're a lot like his stupid soap operas apparently.

That's when I remembered the guy hugs the girl and lets her cry. Well, it goes something like that anyway.

I bit my tongue nervously and put an arm around her. I felt her stiffen, but she didn't freak out or nothing. Then I pulled her close to me.

She rested her head on my plastron and cried a bit harder.

I let out a breath I hadn't realized I'd been holding. Thankfully she didn't notice. I'd expected her to freak out on me the way I knew I would've, but she must've really been upset because she seemed to like the reassurance I was trying to give her.

* * *

><p>It had been ten minutes, and Raph was beginning to think Delilah was going to cry forever, when she sat up straight, roughly wiped her eyes and nose with the back of her hand, and cleared her throat.<p>

"Thanks." She offered gruffly.

"No problem." Raph managed to reply.

An awkward silence ensued.

"Um…sorry if I was a little…'up close an' personal', I guess ya could say. I saw ya cryin' an' didn't really know what ta do..."

"It's fine." She frowned, looking away. "Just don't pull the whole 'I can save you from your problems' shit on me. I've been through that scam before."

"I was afraid ya'd take it like dat. I wasn't tryin' ta pull any of dat romantic crap or nothin'. I just don't really know how ta act 'round girls so I pulled somethin' from a chick flick April made me watch." He said in a rush. He didn't want this girl getting the wrong idea, especially since she would be living with them for a while.

Delilah turned back towards him. After a moment, a broad grin broke through her impassive mask. She laughed. "I shoulda known it was somethin' like that. You guys are too innocent, ya know that?"

Raph rolled his eyes at that, but became serious again. "Ya know, I understand ya. Ya hide yer emotions like I do, and dat's fine. I'm not gonna pry 'em out of ya. But I think ya should know there's someone else dat gets da way ya feel."

Delilah looked down at the floor. Her hair covered her face so Raph couldn't see what she was thinking.

"I've always wanted that. Secretly, I've always wanted someone to understand me like that. I figured the only person who could would have to be a sibling, but I'm an only child." She finally muttered.

"Well, if dat's da case I guess ya got someone dat could be here for ya kinda like a brother…but I ain't offerin' anythin' da others wouldn't, mind ya!" The fact that she was so much like himself made Raph feel a bit responsible for her, though he wasn't sure why.

Delilah smirked. "You sure hate making others think you care."

"Yeah, so do ya, I bet."

They held each other's defiant gazes before grinning.

Raph stood and held his hand out for the female mutant.

She shrugged it off and stood up herself, causing them to laugh despite themselves. Raph knew she wouldn't accept help, and she knew he had anticipated that.

"Are you guys ready to go now?" A voice from the doorway asked kindly.

They both turned around with lightning speed.

Leo smiled slightly at them.

"How...when…" Delilah sputtered.

Raph scowled at his older brother. "He has a nasty habit of appearin' at da worst time possible."

"It's a ninja thing." Leo shrugged.

Delilah's eyes widened. "You guys are ninjas? …well I guess I should have suspected that, what with the bandanas and weapons." She looked at the two eldest turtles with curiosity. "You're gonna have to tell me your story."

"On the way to the Lair." Leo agreed. He turned and walked back out to the others, knowing Raph and Delilah would follow (which they did).

Delilah went off to find another piece of pizza while Leo and Raph waited for Mikey to be done with his TV show and April and Donny to stop their "geek-speak", as Mikey liked to call it.

"Ya know," Raph began. "'Bout whatcha saw in der-"

"It's alright, Raph. I know you were just trying to help her. That in itself was impressive for you." He grinned. "I wouldn't expect you to fall in love on top of that."

"Are ya implyin' I ain't capable of love?...wait a sec, did ya just make a joke?" He asked incredulously.

"Don't act so surprised. We used to joke with each other all the time when we were kids."

"Key words bein' 'when we were kids'."

"Touché."

"Hey, are you guys ready to go yet?" Donny asked them suddenly.

Raph glowered at them.

Leo smiled at his brother's reaction. "Yes, we're ready. Mikey?" He turned to look at his brother.

"Give me the pizza, Mikey!" Delilah growled.

Leo inwardly sighed at the sight of Mikey and Delilah fighting.

"No way, dudette! It's the last slice!" Mikey grinned, holding the pizza away from her.

"You aren't the one who just went through a mutation! I'm hungry!"

"So am I!" He protested, obviously loving her frustration.

"Mikey, give her the piece of pizza!" Donny frowned at him. "It's a wonder she doesn't need to sleep straight through the week after what her body has gone through."

"We have more at home anyway." Leo pointed out.

"Fine." Mikey grumbled, handing over the slice.

"Thank you." Delilah grinned evilly.

"Pizza-stealer." He mumbled under his breath.

"Thanks again, April." Leo smiled at his human friend.

"Of course! Oh, Casey and I might be over tonight if you guys don't mind the company."

"Duh. Not like we're doin' nothin' anyway. Tell Case ta bring his baseball bat and we'll go Dragon huntin'!" Raph grinned broadly at the idea of him and his best friend patrolling.

April, however, didn't approve of Casey's nightly outings. "Fine. But you guys need to be back by one." She folded her arms over her chest, leaving no room for argument.

Raph frowned. He could debate about curfew with Leo, but not April. If he disobeyed her, she would get Mikey to help her pull some awful prank to get back at him. "Fine." He grumbled.

"Can you tell him that every night?" Leo pleaded. "He doesn't listen to me!"

April laughed at Leo's half-joke, half-serious plea.

"Come on!" Mikey wined. "I'm missing a _Justice League_ marathon!"

"Alright, alright." Donny rolled his eyes. "Bye April, thanks again!"

"Yeah, thanks." Delilah told the older woman sincerely, if not a bit embarrassedly.

"Anytime." She assured them with a smile.

The gang quickly exited the small apartment and entered the Battle Shell.

As they drove away, Delilah couldn't help but ask "Who's Casey?"

Raph grinned. "He's a buddy o' mine. He and April are datin' though, dats why he's basically her bi-"

"-Language, Raph!" Leo reprimanded his brother before he uttered the curse word.

The red clad turtle rolled his eyes. "Well, ya get da idea." He told Delilah.

"How do you guys know them?" She asked curiously. "No offense or anything, but it doesn't seem like you guys would know any humans."

"We saved April from a villain named Dr. Stockman and his robots called Mousers." Leo explained. He was sitting behind Raph, who was sitting next to the female mutant. Mikey was directly behind her, impatiently waiting to get home and watch cartoons. That left Donny alone in the front seat.

"Casey on da other hand, I met while bustin' some heads topside."

"Topside?" Delilah asked innocently.

"It's a slang word we use meaning 'the surface'." Leo answered.

Delilah still didn't know what exactly that meant, but she ignored her curiosity for now. "So Casey just accepted you? He didn't think he was dreamin' or anything?"

"Yeah. He's a pretty good guy and doesn't really care whatcha look like as long as ya help him bust heads. He was taken his vigilante job a little too far when I found him. Had ta keep him from killin' some Purple Dragons. He got himself in da middle of an ambush and we helped him out." Raph answered.

"So what you're sayin' is, you've saved all of your human friends. Even previous one's like me."

"Pretty much. After we save humans, dey usually run away. April didn't have da chance since we took her back ta da Lair when she passed out in da sewers, and we helped Case out of a tight spot, so he didn't really care."

"Moral of the story, April and Casey became our friends instead of running away and we all lived happily ever after, the end." Mikey finished with a slightly annoyed edge to his tone. "Come on, Don!" He called to the front of the car. "Splinter can drive faster than you!"

"For your information," Donny retorted. "Splinter can't drive at all!"

"And Splinter is…?" Delilah asked as she raised an eyebrow.

"Our Sensei." Leo answered for her. "He raised us and taught us ninjutsu."

"And he's a mutant turtle like you?"

"Rat, actually." Raph smirked.

"You never told me your backstory." She informed the guys. "And YOU promised ya would when we got in the car." She turned on Leo.

Leo grinned. "And I always keep my promises." He quickly began to tell her everything about his and his brothers' origin. By the time he was finished, they had reached the old warehouse where they stored the Battle Shell.

"So basically, some aliens called Utroms came to earth and created a transmat device that secreted ooze that can mutate things. Then, after a boy bought you four in pet-shop-turtle form, a blind man almost got run-over by a truck transporting the ooze, so a guy behind the kid bumped him to save the blind guy, causing him to drop you into the sewers. The truck swerved and a can of the ooze fell into the sewers too, covering the four of you. There, normal-rat Splinter found you and took you in." Delilah summed up. "Because he cleaned you up, he got the ooze on him too, and after that the ooze transformed all of you into mutants."*

"Yep." The four brothers answered in unison.

"We get out here." Leo told her.

Delilah just then realized they had entered a warehouse. She quickly followed the guys out of the vehicle.

"But then," She began. "How did he know ninjutsu?"

Leo sighed. "That's a whole other story."

Mikey burst out laughing, surprising the others. He had been so busy sulking about missing out on the _Justice League _marathon, that he had hardly said anything the whole ride home. Something normally unusual for the orange masked turtle.

"What?" Raph asked gruffly. They were just now leaving the warehouse.

"Keep it down now, guys." Leo whispered.

"It's just," Mikey chuckled one last time before lowering his voice as to not alert humans. "April asked the exact same thing after we saved her. You might as well just tell her, Leo. We still have a ways to go."

The leader shrugged. He had intended on telling her anyway. "I will tell you if you want, Delilah."

Delilah snorted. "I wouldn't have asked if I didn't want to know…hey, where exactly are we going? I'm not a ninja, ya know, so I could get spotted by someone out here."

"We just need ta make it ta dat alleyway over there, den we can get ta da sewers." Raph answered.

Delilah frowned. Leo had told her their home was in the sewers during the origin story. It had surprised her, but she knew it shouldn't have. Where were four humanoid-turtles supposed to live without being discovered? Still, she wasn't looking forward to living in the sewers.

Leo noticed her frown and grinned internally. April and Casey had been surprised at how nice their home was, despite where it was located. He knew Delilah probably would be too.

"So are you gonna tell me how your master knows ninjutsu, or what?" Delilah pestered.

Leo put a finger up in a signal for quiet as the band of mutants crossed the street to get to the alleyway with the desired entrance point to the sewers. Once everyone crossed without being spotted, Mikey hastily lifted the manhole cover and everyone jumped into the sewers, Delilah a little more hesitantly than the others.

Leo waited to speak until the manhole cover was safely back in place. "Now that we're underground, I can tell you."

Delilah listened intently to the story. It helped keep her mind off of what she was probably stepping in right now. Surprisingly, it didn't smell that bad down there.

"Those aliens sure give you guys a lot of trouble." She frowned after Leo was done with the second tale.

"Yeah." Raph agreed. "They brought da Shredder ta earth, and Splinter's master, Hamato Yoshi, got killed tryin' ta protect dem."

"But," Donny interjected. "Without them, we would still be pet turtles."

"Good point." Delilah nodded. "You guys are lucky your master was so observant. Most people wouldn't believe it's possible for everyday rats to learn martial arts, let alone learn it by mimickin' their owner's movements. Speaking of Yoshi, did he ever get, like, avenged or something?"

Raph grinned evilly. "Old Shred-head is currently on a frozen asteroid courtesy of us."

"You guys fought him? So he stayed on earth for a while?"

"He posed as a human using Utrom technology." Leo answered.

Raph nodded. "Ya probably heard of him. He pretended ta be a human named Oroku Saki."

Delilah's eyes threatened to bulge out of their sockets. "Saki? The savior of New York? He was an alien! Jeeze!" She shook her head adamantly. "I thought he went ta Japan!"

"He was just saying that. He was going to go back to the Utrom Homeworld." Donny informed her.

"And bring back some more slimy aliens to help him invade earth." Mikey smirked. "Of course, he couldn't defeat the…" He paused dramatically.

"DON'T SAY IT!" Raph yelled. Delilah noticed he suddenly looked murderous.

"BATTLE NEXUS CHAMPOIN!" Mikey laughed, already running from Raph who soon followed in hot pursuit.

"The what?" Delilah asked in confusion.

"Another long story." Leo answered tiredly.

The group quickly caught up with Mikey and Raph, who had stopped in front of what seemed like a dead end.

Before Delilah could comment on the fact that they were lost, Donny pulled a few pipes on the wall. To her surprise, they moved like levers and suddenly the wall began to split down the middle and retract into each side of the wall. It kind of reminded her of an automatic door at a super market.

"Welcome to the Lair." Mikey grinned at her as they entered.

* * *

><p><strong>AN: *If you're confused about the transmat bit of the origin, that was revealed in the episode _Secret Origins, Part One_. Not trying to insult anyone, it's just something that isn't widely talked about and was barely even mentioned in the episode in the first place.**


	3. Life In The Lair

**Disclaimer: Yeah, so I forgot to announce I don't own TMNT (though you'd think it'd be implied. This IS a fanfiction site, after all). For previous reference I also don't own Justice League.  
><strong>

Chapter 3: Life in the Lair

I looked on in awe. I definitely hadn't been expecting this, even before I knew the turtles lived in a sewer.

The main room looked like a mix of a gym and some sort of karate place or something. I figured that was where the guys practiced their martial arts.

Mikey ran into a conjoined area that was obviously not part of the martial arts place (isn't that called a dojo or something? Yeah, that sounded right). It was a huge entertainment center with several large TVs on the wall. There were several other rooms that went off from these, and even more on the upper level.

"This place is awesome!" I gaped.

Raph laughed at me as he walked further into the dojo and grabbed a weight in his right hand.

Donny also scampered off into one of the rooms spurred from the dojo. I could vaguely hear him muttering about "experiments" and "inventions". It was obvious to me he was the smart turtle of the bunch, but he must have been even smarter than I realized, because only a real scientist would bother with stuff like that.

Leo sighed, but was smiling. "Come on. I'll introduce you to Sensei and show you where you can stay."

My head was spinning from trying to take everything in. I nodded but didn't move.

I heard him laugh and felt him grab my hand, pulling me away from the huge room and over to another, smaller one. This one was covered by blue-green, Japanese panels.

"Wait here." He told me quietly. He then entered the room, sliding the panel shut behind him.

I frowned at that. I hated to be kept waiting. I looked behind me and made sure the others were still occupied before I put an ear-hole to the door and listened. Luckily, my hearing had sharpened enough for me to hear the entire conversation with ease.

"_Master Splinter?"_ Said one voice that was obviously Leo's.

An older voice answered him. _"Kneel, my son. I sense you and your brothers have all returned safely."_

"_That's correct, Sensei. We have also brought a guest."_

"_A guest? Is it the presence I sense listening to our conversation?"_

"_It is."_

I jerked my head back away from the screens and felt heat rush to my face, turning it a slightly darker green. Still blushing, I put the side of my head back against the panel.

"You may enter." The elderly voice wasn't as quiet this time, so I knew he was talking to me.

For some reason I felt nervous. I guess it was because I knew the turtles' master could decide whether or not to let me stay.

"_Come on, Delilah. No fear. Can't show any fear, that's what gets you into trouble."_ I chided myself. I then quickly-but gently-slid the panels back and entered.

The room was dark except for what had to be at least ten lit candles. Everything in it was very traditional Japanese, I could even smell incense burning somewhere. There were scrolls with Japanese writing all over the walls, and those little plants that look like miniature trees (weren't those called bonsai trees? Thank you, _Karate Kid_! Who says you can't learn stuff from TV?) were sitting on a shelf.

I noticed Leo kneeling in front of a low, Japanese table, and a large mutant rat wearing a Japanese robe on the other side. His fur was grey-ish silver, showing signs of his elderly age, and he carried a walking stick. His eyes watched me cautiously, yet they were soft and caring. I instantly felt my previous nervousness melt away.

"Delilah," Leo addressed me without turning to make sure I was really the one eavesdropping. "This," Here he turned to look at me and gestured at the elderly rat. "Is Master Splinter, our Sensei."

I nodded to show I'd heard him, but didn't move. I wasn't sure if I was supposed to.

"Please come and sit." Splinter smiled kindly at me. "Make yourself comfortable."

I hesitated for a moment. Somehow I knew if I let him get a closer look at my eyes, he would know everything there was to know about me. I really wasn't sure if I was comfortable with being exposed like that. Finally, I sighed internally and sat down with my legs criss-crossed next to Leo.

The blue banded turtle gave me a reassuring smile. I was starting to realize he was good at that, and I couldn't help but feel a bit better and smile nervously back.

"Miss Delilah." Splinter began. "Would you please explain to me how you came to be in the protection of my sons?"

I couldn't help but cringe when he called me "miss", and I noticed Leo trying to suppress a laugh at my reaction. At least now I knew where he got it into his head to call me that when we first met.

"I was captured by a guy named Bishop, and he turned me into this." I gestured to my new body. "Then these guys showed up and saved me." I shrugged. That was really all there was too it.

"I see." The old mutant pondered what I had said. "And I assume you cannot go home now, due to your unusual appearance."

"That's right." I bit my lip, thinking about my mom again.

"I understand. You may stay as long as you need to." Splinter assured me, still thinking. "You may both leave. Leonardo will show you to your room."

We both stood, and I noticed Leo bow. I looked at him funny, but clumsily did the same before following him out.

"Come on, this way." Leo instructed me to follow him. He still had this huge, amused grin on his face, like he really wanted to laugh at me but thought it would be rude. It was really starting to piss me off.

"Whatcha smiling about?" I asked with a slight edge to my tone.

He chuckled. "You tried to eavesdrop on ninjas."

I thought about that for a moment and repressed a rising blush. Now that I thought about it, that WAS kind of stupid. Ninjas were supposed to feel the energy people give off or whatever, right? So of course they knew I was listening.

"Yeah, I didn't think that through." I admitted gruffly.

He shrugged. "It's ok. But I wouldn't recommend trying it again on Master Splinter in the future."

"What about the rest of you?"

"I can feel many presences, but not as well as Master Splinter can. If someone were trained to hide their chi, I wouldn't be able to feel them. The others are still working on that aspect of ninjutsu, and can't really feel much yet."

"I understand…I think…"

I noticed now we were heading over to a ladder that led upstairs. Leo ignored it, instead preferring to jump and catch the ledge with his hands, continuing to swing himself into a crouching position on the top floor.

"Show off!" I called, and used the ladder instead.

Once on the top floor, he motioned for me to follow and walked over to the second to last room on that floor. There were a total of six.

"We usually use this as a guest bedroom for Casey, April, or Angel, so there's already a bed and dresser. I'm pretty sure Donny even installed a TV."

"Who's Angel?" I asked before even glancing at the room. What can I say? Curiosity usually gets the best of me.

"Another human friend. She's about our age."

"Did you save her too?" I teased.

Leo grinned. "Actually, Casey saved her from joining the Purple Dragons, but got himself captured in the process. He told Angel to contact us to help break him out."

"In a way, ya saved her from guilt." I pointed out.

"I suppose that's true. You're wiser than you pretend to be."

"I'm not sure if that's a compliment…"

"It is." He smiled and turned to leave before stopping abruptly. "Oh, you probably want to know where everything else is, huh? Come on."

I snickered. "Being absent minded doesn't fit you."

"It happens."

He jumped down to the lower level with ease and I headed for the ladder again.

Things weren't going as bad as I had anticipated. I couldn't believe how great the Lair was, I mean seriously. The guys have, like, twenty TVs. Plus, they'd all been really nice to me. So far I understood Raph the most, but only because we were really alike. I was still trying to get a grasp on Leo's personality. Obviously he was the leader and an overprotective older brother. You didn't need to be a genius to figure that out. But he was also very complex. All of the brothers were. I could tell there was also more to Mikey and Donny than meets the eye, and I knew for certain that although Raph and I were similar, I didn't have him totally figured out yet either.

* * *

><p>Delilah jumped down from the ladder four rungs up and followed me over to where Raph was lifting weights.<p>

"So this is the dojo." I informed her.

"I knew it! I knew it was called a dojo! Yesss!" She congratulated herself. "Uh, I mean cool."

I laughed at her again. I knew when I laughed it helped her feel more at ease. "We practice ninjutsu here."

Raph stopped weight lifting and smirked at us. "Dis is where ya can find Leo 24/7. He's a workaholic." He snickered.

I rolled my eyes, but didn't protest. Although I practiced all the time because I wanted to be a good leader and be able to protect my brothers, Raph did have a point. Most people would say I was a workaholic.

"When yer done with Fearless Leader's tour, why don'tcha come back here and lift weights with me, huh?" He called as we left to explore the rest of the place.

I saw her grin. "You might be a ninja, but I bet I can lift more than you with these muscles Bishop gave me!" She challenged.

I tried to contain another laugh as we walked away from the eldest of my younger brothers. I could just here Raph yell "it's on!", before the sound of Mikey's cartoons overpowered his voice.

"Hey dudette!" He greeted Delilah. "Leo giving ya the old tour of the place? This is my personal favorite room, the living room! Check out all the TVs! Pretty wicked, right?"

"If you can always find ME in the dojo, this is where you can always find MIKEY." I declared teasingly.

"…Dude." Mikey's eyes widened. He looked at Delilah. "What did you do to him? He made a joke!"

Delilah looked between me and Mikey curiously. "He's made a lot of jokes."

I shrugged.

"Don't tell me he's laughed at yours?" My youngest brother asked in awe.

"…Yeah…"

"Oh…my…God. HOW COME YOU NEVER LAUGH AT MY JOKES?" He demanded of me.

"Because they aren't that funny?" I offered.

He folded his arms and mumbled something unintelligible to himself. "Well, whatever." He finally spoke so we could hear. "As long as you're getting him to loosen up, I don't care."

I rolled my eyes and led Delilah away.

"Do you really never joke?" She asked me curiously.

"I do occasionally. I think I've laughed more and joked more today than I have in a long time, though."

"Why?"

"You're sarcasm and sense of humor cracks me up." I said innocently enough. "It's sardonic, but not as angry as Raph's. It perplexes me, and I find that inexplicably funny." So it wasn't the WHOLE truth, but it wasn't a lie either.

Delilah stopped walking and stared at me. Suddenly she burst out laughing. She began laughing so hard, she was soon kneeling on the floor.

"Sorry." She said in between chuckles. "It's just that, usually my sense of humor gets me into trouble. It pisses people off, but it's never made anyone laugh!"

"There's a first time for everything!" I told her cheerfully. "Come on."

We peeked into Donny's lab quietly. "Hey, Don? You busy?"

"Am I ever NOT busy when I'm in here?" He teased. "You can come in. It's fine."

"So this is Donny's lab. Don't touch anything if you value your life." I said seriously.

Delilah laughed, but caught my look and realized I wasn't joking. "Well ok then!"

The lab was full of test tubes and beakers, several file cabinets, and a few heaps of scrap metal and scavenged parts from electronics. Donny was sitting at a desk covered in miscellaneous papers and two computers.

"Never come between a geek and his work." Donny grinned as he whirled around in his chair to face us.

"I'll keep that in mind." Delilah nodded seriously.

"Ok guys, I need to get back to work now." He told us before turning back to his desk.

"Alright. Don't stay up too late, Don." I reminded him.

"Leo, you know I always stay up. And don't tell me I need to be awake for practice tomorrow. That's what coffee is for."

I shook my head at my brother and left with Delilah in tow. After our stop there, I showed her the kitchen and bathroom

"Could I take a shower?" She asked me while we were still in the bathroom.

"Sure. There should be a fresh towel hanging up already. We don't have any shampoo or conditioner though. I'll see if April can lend us some of hers while you stay with us."

"Thanks." She smiled at me before shutting the door.

I rubbed my neck awkwardly before walking to the dojo. Having a girl in the house was going to take some getting used to. Especially one with as much emotional pain as Delilah. Sure, she was good at hiding it. But I could tell she had gone through a lot, and it affected her personality. I really did think she was funny, but I mostly laughed and joked with her because I wanted her to feel more comfortable here. I knew laughter was one of the few things that anyone could bond over, even if you had an exterior as rough as Raph's.

* * *

><p>My life is over. O-V-E-R. I'm a freaky mutant that can't go out in public without causing panic, and my mom is more than likely going to be put in jail for being too drunk to get a job and pay her rent. On the "bright side" (like there even is one in this situation…), I DO feel like I fit in more now than ever before. The mutant turtles who saved me have treated me more like a human being than anyone since my dad left.<p>

I'm still worried sick about my mom though, and I don't know what I'm' going to do with my life. It's completely over. It sounds cliché, but it's true. There's absolutely nothing I can do anymore. Not that I would have gotten into college anyway. No money and bad grades…right, great chances right there. Still, I can't help but wonder what I could have accomplished as a human. I've always wanted to be an artist. Not that I was that good or anything, but it would have been cool to try.

I tried to shake all of these thoughts from my head as I started the water in the shower. I sighed in contentment. Hot water. Honest to goodness hot water. Not warm water, not room-temperature water, or even the usual cold water. I was showering with hot water! I couldn't even remember the last time I showered using hot water. I used to pay the water bill, but the boiler in my old apartment didn't work anyway, so I used the showers in the girls locker room at my school during lunch or early in the morning if I could. Usually there wasn't any hot water though.

That wasn't even the worst problem with my plumbing. It hardly ever worked, and when it did it was so dirty it was practically undrinkable. That's when I started figuring out how to steal water bottles from my school's vending machines. It made me feel guilty at first, but I needed to drink to survive so I figured it was justified. Hey, it's not like I was stealing expensive stuff from them, like Gatorade. My mom stole my money to buy beer, so luckily she didn't need anything else to drink.

I really don't want to think about anything except for the warm water on my skin. It feels so good. I'm glad I'm still warm blooded. Or at least I think I am. I sweat still, so that means I'm warm blooded…right? Now I wish I had paid more attention in biology.

I sighed and shut the water off, leaving the shower and grabbing a towel. I quickly dried myself off and put my clothes on, leaving my hair down. As much as I hated it in my face, it would dry faster that way. I then left the bathroom and headed to the kitchen to get a snack. Usually I wasn't this hungry (not eating much while growing up had shrunk my stomach a lot), but then again, I usually didn't mutate into a "super soldier" either.

I entered the kitchen but stopped abruptly. There was a human guy with his head basically inside the fridge. He was muscular, and wearing a red tank-top and blue, athletic-looking sweats.

"You Casey?" I asked.

The guy jumped at my voice, causing a loud bang. He turned around rubbing his head. "Ouch! Ya made me hit my head." He grumbled.

I grinned. "By the looks of you, I'd say you probably didn't damage much."

Casey raised an eyebrow, but immediately chuckled. "Raph was right. Ya are just like 'im."

I shrugged. "What can I say? Hey, anything good in there?" I pointed at the fridge.

"Eh. Just some leftovers. Mikey's a good cook though, so dey're probably a'right."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Umm spaghetti, pizza, some more pizza, stuff ta make tacos with…ya get da idea. If ya want any beer though, ya gotta ask me. Raph's da only one dat drinks it every once-in-a-while so I keep some stored in my truck when I come over."

I wrinkled my nose. "Yeah, I'll pass. After living with a drunk, alcohol just doesn't sound very appealing."

Casey shrugged. "Whateva. Thought I'd letcha know since yer s'pposed ta be like Raph and all."

"Raph and I are really similar, but we're not totally the same." I reminded him.

"Yeah? A'right, what's different 'boutcha?"

"Well first off, I'm a girl, I'm not a ninja, I'm an only child, …and I don't really know Raph well enough to say anything else." I shrugged. My eyes lit up as an idea came to me. "But I bet he doesn't draw."

Casey thought for a second. "I don't think he does dat, but ya never know with 'im. So ya can draw? Ya any good?"

"Yeah." I nodded. "Give me some paper and a pen and I'll show you."

"A'right." He went over to the doorway. "Yo, Raph! I need some paper!" He yelled.

"Get it yaself!" Raph yelled back.

"Wow. You sure are lazy." I sighed.

Before he could retort, April entered. "Casey, what…oh! Hi, Delilah!" She smiled at me before turning back to Casey. "What did you need paper for?"

"Del's gonna show me some of her drawin'."

"Don't call me that!" I snapped. "And yeah…I was…"

"I've got some paper in my purse." April smiled, putting the bag down on the counter and getting several blank sheets of paper and a pen out.

"Um…" I muttered, uncomfortable now. I didn't like people looking at my art. I only wanted to show Casey so he knew Raph and I were at least a little different, but now that April was here to see it too, I lost my confidence.

"We're not going to judge." April told me, as if reading my mind.

"Ok, have you been hanging out with Leo or something?" I asked sarcastically.

She laughed. "Leo has ninjutsu, I have a woman's intuition."

I smiled slightly and took the pen from her. Hm. Now what to draw…well how was I feeling right now? Confused, upset, and unsure. Like a caged wolf. Ok that worked. I began drawing a wolf in a steal cage, snow and mist surrounding it under a pitch black sky. I paid special attention to the eyes, trying to capture as much fear and frustration as possible in them.

I looked at it for a second before writing my signature in the bottom left corner.

"Holy crap!" Mikey exclaimed.

I turned quickly to see most everybody was in the kitchen now and had been watching me draw. I'd been so absorbed in it I hadn't even notice. I suddenly felt extremely embarrassed and disguised my emotions with my "unreadable mask".

"You're good." Raph grinned at me. "Really, really good."

"Thanks." I smiled slightly. "I used to get bored on the subway ride to work…so yeah…"

"You are very observant." Leo mused.

I raised an eyebrow.

"To draw with such detail requires a trained eye." He remarked.

Raph rolled his eyes. "Ya always have ta categorize everythin' inta a weakness or advantage. It's so annoyin'!" He yelled at his older brother.

Leo bit his lip, trying to avoid a fight. "Look, Raph, calm down. It was just speculation. I was actually thinking that if her eyesight has sharpened even more than it already was, then it must be really amazing. I was just wondering what everything looks like to her versus what it looks like to us."

"Cut da crap, Fearless. Dat's a lie and ya know it! Ya always put everyone in a place in yer head!" He growled.

Leo folded his arms over his chest. "What do you mean, I 'put everyone in a place'?"

"Ya always rank people! Take in der abilities and weaknesses!"

I stared at the two brothers, wide eyed. Raph was full of anger, and I wondered where he'd gotten it from. As far as I could tell, Leo had complimented me.

"Uh, Raph?" I asked curiously.

"What?" He growled at me.

"Careful, Delilah." Leo warned.

Raph rounded back on Leo. "What's dat supposed ta mean? Ya think I'd hurt her or somethin'?"

"Raph, why don't we take this into another room, alright?"

"Ya embarrassed I'm tellin' everyone ya ain't perfect?"

"Look Raph, I'm tired of these fights! It's the same thing every single God forsaken time! You get mad at me after a sparring session or training and won't tell me what's wrong, then end up yelling at me about something stupid, ultimately coming to the fact that I'm not perfect. I know I'm not perfect, alright?" Leo snapped.

The others had backed away, and I thought it might be wise to do the same.

"Do they do this a lot?" I whispered to Donny.

"Yeah." He whispered back. "It's pretty normal."

April sighed. "It does get exasperating though. Casey, you should take Raph topside to cool off after this is over."

"Sounds good ta me." He answered good naturedly, but he looked a little nervous.

Raph laughed at Leo. "Ya say ya aren't, but ya act like ya think ya are! Yer always bossin' everyone around all da freakin' time!"

"I'm the leader, Raph! That's my job!"

"Who said we need a leader, huh?"

"Splinter did, Raph." Leo seethed. "Do you really think I would take this job voluntarily? Don't get me wrong, I don't mind being your older brother, but keeping tabs on all of you like a parent can get a bit exhausting! I'm only sixteen, Raph! I didn't ask for this much responsibility!"

"Oh, poor Fearless. He gets all da praise from Splinter and gets ta boss everyone around. It must be SO hard ta be ya." The younger brother rolled his eyes.

"You know what Raph? Whatever." Leo sighed. The anger was gone from his voice and he just sounded tired. "There's nothing I can say to stop you from fighting with me right now. So be mad at me if you want, but I'm done arguing." He turned to leave.

"I ain't done talkin' ta ya!" Raph growled. He ran at his brother, hurling a fist in his direction.

My eyes widened and I was about to yell to Leo, when the blue banded turtle turned around and caught his younger brother's punch.

"Calm down, Raph!" Leo told his younger brother, slightly pleading now.

Raph growled in response, too filled with anger (and now battle fever as well) to calm down.

"Don't help." Leo told all of us. "He isn't thinking clearly right now."

Raph laughed. "Dat's right! Stay out of dis! It's between me and Leo!" He grabbed both of his sais from his belt.

"Raph, I'm not drawing weapons on you!"

"Don't hold back Leo, I sure as hell ain't gonna!" He then charged, wielding his sais around.

Leo dogged the best he could without throwing punches or drawing his swords. Eventually he was able to doge both of Raph's sais and elbow him in the plastron. He then used this distraction to kick the backs of Raph's legs just beneath the knee, forcing him to kneel. In the same motion, he pinned his younger brother's hands behind his shell.

Panting, and slightly cut in a few places, he forced his weight on Raph until he gave up and started to calm down.

Leo backed away slowly. Raph stayed where he was until Leo was a ways away before he himself stood up. He stared at Leo for what seemed like forever before storming out.

Once the tension in the room lessened a bit, I finally yelled "what the HELL was that?"

"That," Leo answered, finally turning. "Was one of my and Raph's fights. Sorry you had to see that."

"But what was it about?"

Leo shrugged. "Beats me." He frowned, examining himself. He wasn't hurt very badly. In fact, he only had two cuts on his left arm, and one on his right, so three tiny cuts in all. The worst one was a larger stab on his plastron. He acted like they weren't a big deal and like they didn't hurt, but personally I thought he looked like a wreck.

"Dude, you look like shit. Seriously." I told him.

Leo laughed. "Thanks. That makes me feel so much better."

Donny began to walk towards him, but Leo stuck a hand out. "Woah bro, don't even think about it."

"Come on, Leo! I need to disinfect your cuts!"

"I'm fine, Donny! Knowing you, you'll secretly slip me something to numb me so you can give me stitches, and I have a training session tonight!"

"Freaking workaholic." Don sighed. "I'm not going to numb you up or knock you out! I just want to check out the wound on your plastron."

"It's fine Don." He punched himself there without flinching, getting a little bit of blood on his knuckles. "See? It isn't deep at all."

"Dude, just go with Donny. He isn't gonna leave you alone until you do." Mikey advised.

"He's right ya know." Donny grinned evilly.

"Fine." Leo sighed, following his brainiac brother out of the kitchen and into the lab.

I was still staring blankly. "Is anyone going to explain this to me? I'm seriously confused!"

Casey and April shrugged.

"They fight. That's really all there is to it." April answered. "Look, I'm going to help Don. Casey, you should talk to Raph."

The couple left the kitchen, leaving Mikey and I alone.

"If you need to know," Mikey began. He was looking down at the ground. "Raph doesn't like taking orders from Leo and feels like he's living in his shadow or something. Leo practices more than any of us and it drives Raph crazy because he can't catch up. He also hates that Leo watches us like we're kids."

"Does Leo know this?"

"I don't know if Raph even realizes it, let alone Leo. Everyone knows this whole thing has to do with Leo being leader and Raph thinking Leo thinks he's 'perfect', but besides that, I'm not sure anyone else has figured it out."

"Ya sure are observant then." I remarked. "At first, I thought you were just the family jokester."

He shrugged. "We all need to relax and joke every once-in-a-while, don't we? And yeah…I guess I just pick up on stuff like that."

"So how come you haven't told anybody about it?"

"It just…seems like something they need to figure out on their own, you know?"

I nodded. I understood what he meant. "Hm. Maybe Raph and I are more different than I thought. I get angry, but not that angry."

"That's Raph for ya."

I frowned at that. I wanted to talk more with Mikey, but I suddenly realized just how tired I was. My eyelids began to droop and I yawned.

"You need some rest."

"Yeah." I agreed. I began to head to my room upstairs.

"'Night!" He called after me. I noticed he seemed happy again.

"'Night." I called back. "And thanks again."


	4. Chapter 4

**Alright, world. I'm sorry I haven't posted in a long time. Homework hates me. A lot. Which is fine, because I hate it too.**

**Disclamer: I don't own TMNT. Seriously, you would know if I owned the rights, because there would be a lot of blood and cussing 3 My brain is evil...Oh, I also don't own _Eragon_.  
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* * *

><p>Chapter 4: I'm Watching You, I Promise<p>

"I'm watching you, Don." Leo warned me good-naturedly.

I looked away from the wound I was cleaning on his plastron and eyed him carefully. With a little help from Mikey, I was able to persuade him to come with me to my lab after the fight. He was sitting on a stool patiently and letting me tend to his cuts…for now. Knowing Leo, he'll think of something he forgot to do right before I finish and dart out of here.

"I'm not going to numb you." I rolled my eyes.

"Good." My eldest brother grinned at me.

I continued cleaning the cut and moved on to bandaging it.

"Donny, you don't need to do that. The bandage will just fall off when I'm training." He protested.

I rolled my eyes again. "You're probably right, but you can never be too careful in the sewers. I don't want it to get infected."

We sat in silence for a while before I finally mustered up the courage to breach the topic. "Um…Leo? Can I ask you a question?"

"Of course you can." He looked at me seriously, giving me his undivided attention.

"Did you really mean what you said? About only protecting us like you do because Splinter makes you?"

I watched my brother's eyes widen in surprise. "I never said I only protect you because of Splinter! I meant the reason I snitch on you and watch you guys like kids is because of him. It's part of being leader. It's also part of being an older sibling, but I really doubt I'd go to the extent I usually do if your safety wasn't directly under my care."

I sighed with relief. "Ok. Good. I mean, I don't want you to feel like you have to protect us just because you're leader."

He smiled slightly. "I've been doing it for so long, it's natural for me. I don't think I could stop even if I tried." He paused for a moment seeming to be thinking hard. "April, we're done talking if you want to come in now." He called.

I looked at the doorway in shock as the redhead walked in.

"You know," She frowned. "I really hate it when you do that."

"We all do." I sighed.

Leo shrugged. "It comes in handy sometimes. Like when Foot ninjas are trying to follow us, or a pedestrian is about to walk by."

"Leo, you know he doesn't mean it." April said suddenly. She didn't have to say who "he" was. We all knew.

My brother looked at her in surprise. "Of course I know that! He just gets angry, that's all. I wish I could figure out what I'm doing to annoy him so I could fix it…" He mused over the possibilities.

"I don't know if it's necessarily your fault, Leo." April interjected. "Raph might be mad at you, but it could be something he needs to work out with himself."

"Maybe." He shrugged. "I've got to go to the dojo. I'll see you later. Thanks Don." Before I could protest, he was out the door.

I sighed. "He's the worst patient a doctor could ask for." I mumbled to no one in particular.

* * *

><p>I tried to go to sleep, I really did. There were just too many thoughts swirling around in my head. I was SERIOUSLY exhausted, but all I could think about was the stuff I had tortured myself with in the shower, and if that wasn't enough I was now also worried about the whole Leo and Raph situation. I hate fighting…well not fist fights, but you get the idea. It's especially bad when it's between family members. The fight also brought to light a whole other side of Raph I hadn't known existed. Now I had to totally reassess my opinion of him.<p>

It was obvious I wasn't going to be able to fall asleep like this. How long had I been up contemplating everything? I had no clue. What I really needed was a book. I used to barrow some from the library and read them so I could go to sleep even when I was super stressed out. There had to be a book here somewhere, right?

I rolled over and looked at the clock. It was one in the morning. Everyone was probably asleep. I let out a tiny growl of frustration and launched myself out of bed.

My room was nice. I had a bed, dresser, and nightstand with a clock on top of it. It might not sound like much, but to me it was like going to a five star hotel. Taking a brief look around to get my bearings, I opened my door and walked out onto the second floor.

Everything was dark, except for a faint glow coming from the TV and another glow coming from Donny's lab. I was pleasantly surprised to find I could see really well in the dark. I couldn't see quite as well as I could during the day, but I could still see much better in the dark than when I was human. I found the ladder with ease and made my way to the lower floor. Reading might have been a no go, but I could at least get a glass of water, though I doubted that would help.

I silently walked into the kitchen.

"Shit." I growled quietly. I had absolutely no clue where the cups were kept. Muttering cuss words to myself, I searched all of the cabinets until I found one.

"HIYA!" I voice yelled from just outside.

"HOLY SHIT! WHAT THE FUCK?" I screamed, jumping and dropping the glass.

"What happened?" An urgent voice asked from behind me.

I whipped around to see a blue masked turtle holding two curved swords out in front of him.

"Give me a heart attack, why don't ya! Fuck, man!" I fought to keep my voice low. I noticed my heart, which had been racing moments before, had returned to normal. Well that happened faster than it used to.

Leo gave me a funny look, but realization crossed his face as he guessed what must have happened.

"Oh, I scared you! Sorry!" He quickly sheathed his swords.

"What were you even doing out there anyway?" I muttered as I bent down and began collecting the shattered remains of the glass cup. I looked up for a moment and realized he was kneeling right next to me. I jumped again, cutting my hand on a particularly jagged piece. I looked at the thick red line. "Looks like Donny was wrong. Not ALL of my scales are impenetrable. The ones on my hands and feet are soft. Sad day…AND WHAT THE HELL IS WITH YOU SNEAKING UP ON ME ALL OF THE TIME? SHIT, MAN!" I growled.

He snatched my hand before I could use it to pick up another piece of glass. "You're going to hurt yourself."

"Hey, I can take care of myself!" I frowned. His grip on me was strong though, and he was able to pull me up off my knees and over to the sink. Turning it on, he gently washed the cut and pressed a paper towel to it to stop the bleeding.

"Keep pressure on that." He demanded before letting go of my hand. I continued to stare at him like he was insane as he bent down to finish picking up the glass.

"I don't need you to do that. I know how to take care of myself." I mumbled. This was bad. People were never nice unless they needed to use you.

"I know you do. Can I tell you a secret?"

I looked at him like he was insane for what seemed like the millionth time that night. "Uh…sure?"

"The way we knew Bishop was trying to kidnap you was due to the fact Raph and I had seen commandos following you about a week before the attack. We kept an eye on you every day, making sure you weren't attacked when you went from work to your house. Two or three days ago, Raph followed the commandos to find out when they were going to strike. While he was doing that, I got bored. So I decided to check on you, even though you were inside. I used these things called shuko spikes to scale your apartment. This might sound odd, but I watched you until Raph came back. He made fun of me for supposedly being a softie and a stalker."

"You watched me for a week? Just to make sure I didn't get attacked?" I asked in confusion.

He nodded. "When I was watching you from the window, I saw you reading and doing your homework. You were eating a bruised apple. Probably something you stole from your school, right?"

I nodded, totally in shock. Why would they care that much about someone they hadn't even known? It didn't make any sense. And what about Raph? I had thought he was ok because we both needed someone to vent to. Someone who would understand our frustration. Maybe I was wrong? Maybe he wanted something from me too. April told to Casey to talk to Raph after the fight to help him calm down, right? He must understand him. So he wouldn't need me. Then how come he was nice to me?

My thoughts were interrupted when Leo continued his story. "You suddenly screamed in fright, and I thought maybe you had somehow seen me, but I realized there was a cockroach crawling next to you. I saw you stomping on it and yelling, then your mom came upstairs."

"I…I get it!" I cut in. "You don't need to finish." I grit my teeth. Mom hadn't exactly been happy about the noise, and when she wasn't happy, she went straight to physical abuse. Verbal abuse was reserved for when she noticed me, but wasn't mad. So physical abuse happened a lot more often. Luckily she punched my arms, which makes the bruises easy to hide. Plus, most of the time she's too drunk to comprehend my existence.

"I'm being nice to you because I think you deserve better than that."

"People aren't just nice for no reason!" I growled. "They always want something, and as soon as you do something wrong, they leave! They don't even tell you what you did, they torture you by leaving you guessing!" I stopped suddenly, realizing what I just said.

"_Shit, did I really say all that? Fuck, Dad. What the hell did you do to me? I can't even keep to myself. If you hadn't left, I wouldn't even be in this situation, damn it!" _I thought angrily to myself.

He put a hand on my shoulder, squeezing gently. "I won't leave. I promise. Even when you get sick of me, I'll still be here." He grinned. "And trust me, you're definitely going to get sick of me trying to make sure you're safe. Just ask my brothers."

I bit my lip. Raph had been easier to accept help from, since we seemed to understand each other well. For some reason, I had thought we needed each other. To know we had someone to rely on who truly related to what we were dealing with. Hell, I was lucky it was Raph who comforted me instead of one of the others. I would have killed myself for seeming so weak in front of anyone but him. And now I might have been wrong about Raph. He might want something from me. Leo sure must. He didn't understand me or need me, so there was no other logical explanation.

"_Beggars can't be choosers."_ I thought silently. _"Besides, maybe…maybe he really does want to help. I thought they had saved me because they were attacked too and I just happened to be around. But maybe they're good guys. Hell, until today I wouldn't have even thought there was a possibility of decent people existing, but maybe…"_

I swallowed my fear and took a deep breath. "Ok. I'm not saying I need…help or anything, but I'll at least make an attempt not to stare at you like you're a freak when ya do stuff like this."

"Sounds good." He smiled, grabbing a cup from the cupboard. He put it in my hand and began to walk away.

"Wait! Um, Leo? Two questions."

He paused, turning around. "Yeah?"

"First off, is there anything here to read?"

"I have a lot of books. You can barrow one if you want."

"Cool. Next question, what were you doing out there?" I pointed towards the dojo.

"Oh. Well, I assume I was still meditating when you came down. That's why I didn't notice you. I was trying to practice blending into my surroundings while meditating, so that might be why you didn't see me. Then I started practicing some katas. I try to be quiet this late, but every once in a while I get wrapped up in the exercise and don't notice how loud I'm being."

"Why the hell were you practicing so late?"

He shrugged. "I'm waiting for Raph to come back from his run with Casey."

I wondered silently to myself why the hell he would want to wait for someone who was obviously mad at him, but I held my tongue. "Does he usually stay out this late?"

"After we fight, yeah. He and Casey bust some heads and then they talk about stuff. It helps calm him down. Every once in a while he comes home drunk." He frowned at the last statement. "Casey promised me he wasn't going to give him alcohol anymore, but I don't know…I hope he comes back soon. If he isn't here in a half an hour, I'll have to call and check up on him to make sure he's ok."

I noticed he seemed extremely nervous for Raph. "Even after he stabbed you, you're worried about him?"

He looked at me curiously. "Of course. He's my little brother."

We both turned suddenly at the sound of the Lair door opening. I hesitated for a moment before following Leo out into the dojo.

He stopped me as Raph walked in. "You might want to hide somewhere until we're done. Then I'll get you a book, ok?"

"Alright." I smirked stepping towards the kitchen.

"Don't let Raph catch you eavesdropping." He said just loud enough for me to hear.

I snickered and shut the kitchen door behind me, pressing an ear to the cold wood so I could hear.

* * *

><p>"Raph?" I called to the figure walking in.<p>

"Fearless." He nodded in response. He was guarded, obviously expecting me to be waiting for him.

"Look," Luckily, I sounded more confident than I really was. "I'm sorry about the fight. Can you please just tell me what I did to set you off?"

I knew I was asking for it. Tonight wasn't going to be a peaceful night where we both lock our frustrations away and pretend everything is fixed. Tonight, I was going to get to the bottom of this.

My brother growled under his breath. "It ain't nothin' ya can fix."

"And why is that?"

"'Cause."

"Because why?" I persisted.

"'Cause it ain't somethin' ya do, alright?" He snapped. "It's you! Fer some reason, ya piss me off."

My stoic expression flickered for a moment, but Raph didn't appear to see my pained reaction to his words.

"Ya act like yer perfect, and it makes de rest of us look bad!" He spat.

There was that word again. That awful word. "Raph." I began, struggling to keep my voice even. "I am NOT perfect."

"I know that. Yer de one that doesn't seem ta know it." He folded his arms in an act of defiance.

"What do I have to do to convince you that I know I'm not perfect?"

"I dunno." He shrugged.

"Ok, fine!" I growled. I had had it. All of this pointless fighting, and for what? So Raph could get a rise out of me to prove I wasn't perfect? Well I was going to put a stop to it. "I'm overprotective, I worry constantly, I keep all of my problems to myself, I burn everything I cook, and I waste valuable training time reading fantasy books! Oh, and besides being the leader of this team, my life has no purpose."

My brother stared at me in a mixture of confusion and disbelief. "You read fictional stuff?"

I rolled my eyes. "Not all of my books are on strategy, thank you very much."

He looked down at the ground. "Ya don't think yer life has any purpose?" He whispered quietly.

"I've devoted myself to learning ninjutsu in order to protect you as an older brother should, and to become a better leader for this team. Therefore, ninjutsu IS my life. Anything beyond that is irrelevant."

"That's a load of shit. Yer a person…er, turtle, just like da rest of us. Ya can have yer own life."

I shook my head. "I don't know how to. You guys are my life. That's another imperfection. Without my family, I wouldn't have a reason to live. I wouldn't last very long without you guys. So, do you believe I know I'm not perfect now?"

He nodded slowly, avoiding my gaze. "Look, Leo, I'm sorry. I just get so angry sometimes, 'cause I can't ever seem ta do anythin' right, and den ya go and piss me off even more 'cause ya can usually do it right on da first try."

"I work hard at it, Raphael. It comes from practice, as well as a lot of meditation. You should try it. It'll help you focus."

"Yeah, ya know me. I don't get along well with meditation." He grimaced at the thought. "So are we cool, bro?"

I sighed. "Yeah. We're cool. Get some sleep, we have training in the morning."

He rolled his eyes, but never the less began to walk to his room.

"Raph?" I called, causing him to stop.

"Yeah?"

"Don't tell Don and Mikey what I said. About my purpose and stuff. It will only upset them." I asked, thinking back to my earlier conversation with Don when I was letting him clean up my cuts. He had been so upset when he thought I didn't really want to protect him and the others, and now everything was ok. I didn't want to get him worried again, and Mikey still freaked out when one of us was hurt, even after all of these years. He's a sensitive guy, and I really didn't want to freak him out.

Raph hesitated. "…Don't ya think it's somethin' dey should know? I think ya need help with this, Leo. It ain't healthy."

I smirked in amusement. "No offense or anything, but I don't think you're one to tell me what's mentally healthy."

"Shut it, Fearless…Fine. I won't say nothin'."

"Promise?"

"…Promise."

"Good. Night, bro." I called after him as he jumped to the upper floor.

He looked back at me unsurely before going into his room. "…Night."

Delilah was waiting for me in the kitchen. When she saw me, she gave me a weird look, like she was sizing me up.

"What?"

"You're weird." She answered, wrinkling her nose.

"Um, thanks?" I shrugged, completely unsure how to respond.

"Your brother wants ta help you. Maybe you should let him. You're the one who's trying to get me to accept help, right? Take your own advice."

My eyes widened. "Hm. I did say you were wiser than you pretend to be, didn't I?" I mused out loud. "So I guess this shouldn't surprise me." I shrugged again. "In any case, I can't."

"And why not?"

"Because I'm the type of person who likes to take care of others, but neglects to take care of himself."

Now it was her turn to stare at me in shock. "T-that's gotta be a lie! People like that don't exist!"

"Hey, maybe I'm just a fluke then." I smirked before leaving the kitchen.

* * *

><p>"Hey! Hey wait! I ain't done talking to you!" I growled as I ran after him.<p>

Ok, so I kind of understood Leo now. A little. Ok not at all. I was really, really confused. And when I get confused, I get angry. What he was saying was selfless, and selfless people didn't exist! I might not have known a lot, but the one thing I knew for sure was that people only did things for their own personal gain.

I caught sight of him waiting for me by the ladder. That only angered me more. He had obviously known I was going to run after him.

I stopped abruptly as a thought struck me. Maybe it WAS for personal gain. He said protecting his brothers gives him purpose in life, so maybe he has to protect people and feel needed to keep on living! I felt good for figuring this out, and kind of stupid because it probably should have been obvious. But hey, it was two in the morning. Give me a break.

"You aren't selfless." I stated. His face didn't change. It was still unreadable…like an impassive mask…I shook the feeling of déjà vu away and continued. "You need to protect people to feel needed!"

He surprised me by grinning. "I knew you would figure it out."

"Wait…what?"

"You don't like things that confuse you. Neither do I. When I don't understand something, I think about it until it makes sense."

"You really piss me off." I sighed in defeat.

"I told you you'd end up getting sick of me." He motioned for me to follow him as he jumped to the above level.

I looked at the ladder in frustration, and then up at the upper floor. "Aw, screw it." I scowled. I walked backwards for a running start, then jumped with a grunt. I was able to easily catch the edge of the floor, but hesitated so that I didn't have enough momentum to swing myself up to the top. I struggled for a moment before being able to pull myself up with my arms.

I stood up and laughed as I looked at the ground below me. "Sweet." I felt the muscles on my arm. "I love these bad boys!"

"Come on." Leo urged me.

I sighed and followed him into a room and folded my arms expectantly. The room was pretty bland. It had a few posters with Japanese writing, a futon, some wooden swords, a bookshelf, some kind of mat, and it smelled like incense. "Looks like your master's room." I contemplated.

He shrugged and walked over to the bookcase, then turned and placed something in my hand. "It's _Eragon_, by Christopher Paolini. You kind of remind me of Nasuada."

I felt a bit better at the sight of the book. "That's one of my favorites. And I love Nasuada. She's a total bad ass."

"Yes, she's strong and a she's obviously a complicated character despite not having much character development. Let me get you a flashlight. Tomorrow I'll get Donny to help me put a reading lamp in your room. I have a suspicion this is a habit of yours."

"Uh huh. It helps me relax." I told him as we walked back out of the room. He jumped down to the lower level, and I made to follow him, but stopped when I saw just how long of a drop it was.

"Yeah, I'll take the ladder." I mumbled to myself.

We then walked into Donny's lab. He found a flashlight sitting on the desk next to Donny's resting head.

"Now don't go telling my brothers I read books like this. They think I only read things on war and strategy." He informed me as he handed me the flashlight.

I accepted it without hesitation and nodded.

"Good night." He called as I began to walk away.

I turned. "…'Night." I finally replied. I was smiling, but I think he got the message. I was being cautiously optimistic, but the glare I gave him should have told him that one false move and I'd never forgive him.

* * *

><p>I watched her leave and sighed internally before picking up my purple banded brother bridal style. Splinter wouldn't be happy to find Don asleep in his lab again, even if I were to put him in the bed he kept in here for when one of us needed overnight supervision due to a wound. I carefully climbed up the ladder with him and proceeded to put him in his bed before returning to my own room for some much needed sleep.<p>

I couldn't relax though. I was worried that Raph might tell the others about my "lack of purpose". I knew he'd see it as a flaw. Most people would. But I don't. Without anything to distract me, I can work even harder at keeping the people I love safe.

The other thing keeping me up was the silent message Delilah gave me. I'd have to be careful not to upset her from now on. She was finally willing to trust me, and I didn't want to abuse that.


End file.
